Archive for October, 2012

Some time back a report, supposedly commissioned by Qld police, was leaked via the dark web. Of course, being the dark web, it was impossible to confirm its legitimacy. The discussion paper ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ was called an extensive critique and response to Silk Road, the online drugs marketplace, well researched and referenced.

Has Australian Customs really become suddenly much more efficient?

The report contained a list of vulnerabilities of Silk Road that could be targeted and came up mostly empty-handed. This should come as no surprise given the brazenness with which the site continues to operate. The authors concluded that the most strategic tactic law enforcement could use would be ‘undermining user trust’. This would not involve identification and investigation of users of the site, but rather disruption of the marketplace by becoming ‘trusted’ participants of the site and later undermining confidence and trust in a particular area.

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Yesterday, walking along Flinders Street at peak hour, I watched the crowd in front of me part like the Red Sea. Rather than Moses, there was a man who, if not homeless then certainly down on his luck, was stumbling along the footpath, bleeding from his head.

A few feet before he reached me, he fell flat on his face. His arms didn’t keep up with this state of events and did nothing to break his fall. The result was the sound of skull cracking on concrete and a big splodge of blood. Undeterred, in that admirable way drunks do (I could smell him by now), he started to get up, but instantly fell forward, hitting the base of a pole, a bolt getting him in the eyebrow.

By now the guy was pissing blood like an extra in Kill Bill and on his back, turtle-like as he tried to figure out how he was going to get up. As I went towards him, I hardly noticed the crowd around us, but for some reason Sophie Mirabella suddenly popped into my head. “Are you okay?” I asked rather redundantly as I gave him my hand. He looked up and smiled as he grasped it and thanked me several times.